


Sharpened Boomerang

by PPeasants



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Happy Ending?, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Self-Harm, Sokka needs love and appreciation, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 10:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10489269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PPeasants/pseuds/PPeasants
Summary: Only a few constants can be attributed to Sokka's life. No matter how far he tries to throw them, they always seem to come back to him. Maybe something will change if he throws himself?Not if the ones he's let down have anything to say about it.*Revised Chapter 1 to make it better to read**Have started working on chapter 2 after too long*





	

**Author's Note:**

> The nightmares aren't unique. Neither is his reaction. Some things never change, do they. 
> 
>  
> 
> Do they?

_You failed me._  

 

 _Sokka_ _opened his eyes, finding himself in a Boiling Rock prison cell. The room is quite barren, and he himself is covered in rags. The room is shaking, wobbling, moving. In the other corner of the room, shadowy figures approach him, getting ever closer and ever louder, chanting the same phrase._

 

 _You failed me._  

 

 _One of the figures slowly starts to morph, transforming into his father,_ _Hakoda_ _. "You failed me,_ _Sokka_ _. You had me captured and put in prison after your sorry excuse of an invasion failed, one which you couldn't even communicate to your people. You've barely survived every single encounter you've been in, relying on your so called 'friends’ for aid in things which a child could’ve done. You're weak; a disgrace to the Southern Water Tribe. You're no son of mine. You don't deserve to be chief of anything, let alone the heir to the chief of MY tribe. You're a failure."_  

 

 _Sokka_ _curls up in the corner of the shifting room, watching as the scene shifts from the prison hold to the cavern in the Fire Nation, on the Day of Black Sun. The figure beside_ _Hakoda_ _starts to shift as well, transforming into someone who he knows all too well: Suki._  

 

 _You failed me._  

 

 _The chants are getting louder at this point, as_ _Sokka_ _is backed against the cave wall. Suki's mangled voice is heard above the rest, as she speaks directly to_ _Sokka_ _. "You failed me,_ _Sokka_ _. Your failure of an invasion flopped right in front of all our faces, almost killing the only people worth saving in your precious little group, and still landing me in prison when you tried sacrificing them to save me. See how well that turned out? I don't know what I ever saw in you. You're a failure."_  

 

_The shadows move ever closer now, filling up almost his entire field of_ _vision as he tries to follow Suki's voice, to no avail. Her sound is lost in the sea of voices as they scream the single phrase which has followed him, tortured him all his life, his thoughts turning to how he’s never been good enough for anyone._

 

 _You've failed me._  

 

 _He looks down to the ground in shame, whimpering as he starts to see the truth. He finds himself in a beautiful meadow on a cliff, overlooking a magnificent waterfall crashing onto an otherwise serene lake. Looking back, he finds a familiar palace, as he spent some time training there. At Master_ _Piandao's_ _residence._  

 

_Sokka_ _is unable to take in the environment before as the shadows are found again._ _Sokka_ _finds nothing else beautiful to look at anymore, as he only finds darkness. A third shadow begins to convulse as its form begins to shapeshift into the owner of said palace:_ _Piandao._

 

 _You've failed me_  

 

 _Piandao’s_ _commanding voice powers over the eardrum-splitting cries of the shadows, shaking_ _Sokka_ _to his core. “You’ve failed me, boy. You were the first student I decided to train in years, marking one of my biggest mistakes in years. Every test I gave you, you failed miserably. I only let you make your own sword out of pity, and to get you out of my hair, and what do you do with that sword? You throw it away. You’re not even the best swordfighter in your group. You're a disappoint of a student and a sham of a human,_ _Sokka, and I should've killed you when I had the chance._ _You’re a failure.”_  

 

 _Sokka_ _is curled up into a ball, lying in the fetal position as tries to make it out of this verbal onslaught, coming of all the people whom he couldn’t make happy. He can't make anyone happy. The shadows converge on top of him, and he’s sure this is where he dies, making an impact on nobody, thinking the world will be better off without him, as the shadows yell out the phrase he's believed he's deserved for years now._

 

 _You've failed me_. 

 

\--------------------

 

Sokka woke with a start, sweat permeating the sheets he slept in, covering his skin and making his grip on the bed very loose. Taking a good look around, he realizes that he's not in any of the places he'd just seen. Not in a prison cell, nor a deep cave, or even the vast beauty of Piandao's backyard. Panting heavily, he sits up, pulling the sheets off of his body, shaking from the nightmare that just occurred. 

 

 _I’m not dead_ , he thought.  _Shit_. 

 

He's had multiple dreams like this before. The same premise, always, but different people show up in different places in different times, and somehow always saying the same things, reminding him of how much of a disappointment he is. 

 

Sokka is standing now, heading over towards the desk in his room. Zuko was kind enough to let them stay at their villa on Ember Island once the war ended - even though not many people stay there anyways - and it's a nice change 'cause he has a comfortable bed and his own room again.  

 

Yet, some things would never change.

 

As he heads over to the desk, his eyes slowly starts to un-blur. He's getting a better view of the room, as he can see the moonlight filtering through the window.  _Yue,_ he thinks. _Great. Another person here to tell me how terrible I am._ He grabs his boomerang and the grinder he used to keep for his space sword, and quietly heads outside, hoping nobody wakes up to see his sorry state. 

 

This has become sort of a ritual for Sokka. Experience a similar nightmare - which have been occuring more frequently now - and wake up in a cold sweat. Get out of the bed, grab his trusted boomerang - the knife grinder is a new, but welcome, addition - and leave the company of the others so he can sulk in solitude. 

 

The creaks in the floorboards make him nervous as he walks down the hallway, but he makes it outside, and releases a drawn-out sigh. He allows himself to let out a choked sob he didn't know he was holding in. He takes a deep breath, and starts his contemplative walk through the forest.

 

It's gonna be another long night.

 

\--------------------

 

She stirs from her bed, thinking that someone's interrupting her sleep yet again. "When I get my hands on the idiot who did this, they won't be waking up for a long time" 

 

The ever-observant Toph knocks on the door closest to her room, trying to get some answers. "If this is another prank, he's so dead"

 

How dangerous words can be.

**Author's Note:**

> I may or may not be imprinting some of my feelings onto this poor boy.
> 
> Any comments on how to improve are greatly appreciated!  
> Thanks so much for reading!


End file.
